Dems push the vote at Frisco rally Thursday

Summit Daily/Mark Fox
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, left, along with Summit County Commissioner Dan Gibbs, State Representative Millie Hamner and State Senator Gail Swartz were part of the delegation in attendance for the Democrats' rally at the Backcountry Brewery in Frisco Thursday.

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FRISCO - Some of the biggest names in the Colorado Democratic Party rallied around President Barack Obama in Frisco Thursday, in the first stop of a statewide RV tour.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall joined an 11th hour voter-registration push, in an attempt to close the gap between registered Republicans and registered Democrats in Colorado by Tuesday's deadline.

"Ground zero is Colorado," Salazar told a cheering crowd at the Backcountry Brewery Thursday afternoon. "In 2012, the eyes of the United States of America the eyes of the world are on our state."

Colorado is still a decidedly purple swing state in the last weeks leading up to the election. Obama outpaced Republican nominee Gov. Mitt Romney by a single percentage point statewide in a recent Denver Post poll, but registered Republicans still outnumber registered Democrats by 10,000 in Colorado.

The "Colorado Forward" Obama RV that carried Salazar, Udall, Bennet and Obama's top campaign aides into Frisco Thursday, will continue on to cities and towns across the state up through the deadline to register to vote on Tuesday.

"The purpose of the tour is to register every possible Coloradan who would like to vote," Udall said following the rally. "When people come out and vote we will carry the state. We will elect thoughtful, pragmatic Democrats to serve in the state Legislature, to serve on the federal level and we will re-elect President Obama, who gets Colorado."

Udall said the youth, Hispanic and female votes will be crucial to an Obama win again this year.

But voter registration wasn't the only topic of conversation at the rally. On the heels of what was widely believed to be a strong showing for Romney at Wednesday's debate, the Democrats were ready to call out the GOP challenger for changing his tune depending on his audience.

"In Colorado, we don't really like politicians that say one thing in one part of the state and another thing in another part of the state," Bennet said. "That's the same lesson that Mitt Romney's going to learn in this election. The last thing we need to send to Washington is somebody who says one thing when he's governor of Massachusetts, another thing when he's running for president."

The RV visit followed a Breckenridge stop by the Romney bus last month, which drew dozens of supporters.

"Right now, the Republicans are incredibly energized," local GOP chair Mark Hurlbert said. "We were energized before the debate last night and I think Gov. Romney did such a great job. ... We see our candidates as leaders from the top down to the bottom, and we are excited for the election to come up."

The first presidential debate took place at the University of Denver Wednesday night.